Because life is made up of the small things.

Dharma Lights: An illumination of music, indeed

“Can you please turn off the lights?” Up Dharma Down vocalist Armi Millare asks.

Towards the end, Up Dharma Down vocalist Armi Millare looks at the tech booth and says, “Can you please turn off the lights?” Which is kind of ironic, since this particular concert is called ‘Dharma Lights’. Once it’s done, she turns to the audience. “Do guys have lights? Cellphones or something? Para ma-feel naman natin na concert,” she says, smiling. The room suddenly lights up with the collective screens of everyone inside. After a few moments and a few words with the audience, they start playing again, the lights come back on, and the crowd is as enthusiastic as they were when the show began more than an hour and a half ago.

There’s something about Up Dharma Down.

Put your hands together

They rose from relative obscurity several years ago, and while they have built a large loyal following over that time, a lot of people still don’t know them. I ran into an acquaintance at the concert who was surprised that the show sold out – little did he know that not only did the show sell out, but that it did quite quickly.

Like I said, there’s something about Up Dharma Down.

Paul Yap, Up Dharma Down’s bass and synth man.

Light it up! Dharma Lights indeed.

And their music too, of course. Genuine musicians, the lot of them are. They don’t swagger about like most other bands – in fact, most of them seem nice and soft-spoken, awkward even, Millare in particular, especially when they speak. The bluster is in their music. I’m hard-pressed to give you a genre – safe to say it’s a mishmash of a lot things, made into a wonderful techno-pop mix that does OPM proud. In truth — and please note (or forgive) that I am merely a casual fan — I find it hard to understand UDD’s lyrics sometimes. But I think that’s part of the band’s charm. Their latent musicality seems to dominate the way they perform, and you WANT to find out what they’re singing. And when you do, therein lies another pleasant surprise.

That’s gold, right there. And on the night where it was all about them and their music — accompanied by spectacular lighting, t’was a night to remember, to say the least.

Contemplating the music.

———————————————————————–

On a personal note, I loved being able to shoot a concert again. It’s one of my favorite genres, and that Up Dharma Down plays good music was an awesome, awesome bonus. It’s not always that I get this opportunity, so thank you to Music Museum and VerJube Photographics for not shooing me away.